Venture capitalists have become vastly interested in security-related startups that offer a range of services, from computer security, forensics and e-discovery to Web sites that offer more privacy than larger social network sites. Online identity security is a hot commodity, and the following 25 startups offer revolutionary techniques to protect and secure both individual identities and personal or business data.

Computer Security Ventures

1. Aprigo NINJA is an SaaS solution that provides a unified data dashboard for all unstructured data both on-premise and “in the cloud.” Aprigo prides itself on data breach prevention, the ability to pass compliance audits and to benchmark data. EnterpriseStorageForum.com’s Drew Robb named Aprigo a Top 10 Data Storage Startup for 2010.
2. Avansic: Started in 2004, this company has become one of the country’s leading digital forensics firms. They service the legal and business communities through electronic evidence discovery, data preservation, expert witness testimony and litigation support while upholding the highest standards of conduct.
3. Bridgeway Software, the leading provider of Legal Enterprise Management solutions, implements systems in the areas of electronic discovery, matter and case management, electronic invoicing, cost management, corporate governance, contract management, litigation risk assessment and entity management.
4. Digital Assembly introduced SmartCarving™ and SmartFiltering™ technologies to help forensic investigators recover and analyze photo evidence quickly and easily. The company released its latest version of Adroit Photo Forensics on May 5, 2010. The company’s customers include the FBI, intelligence communities, forensic investigators and leading law firms.
5. Innotas is a leading provider of on-demand IT governance, an easy-to-use, rapid-to-deploy, and cost-effective way to manage resources and budgets across an IT department’s entire inventory of projects, portfolios, applications, assets, and service requests. Their services span a wide range of industries.
6. Pixel Forensics provides products and services to locate, analyze, and search all forms of multimedia such as video, images, and audio. The team collectively brings more than 75 years of software development and support experience ranging from applied research and prototyping to commercial software product development.
7. Redseal Systems, Inc. develops security risk management (SRM) software that provides solutions for a range of issues faced by information technology organizations, such as firewall-router audit, network audit, PCI requirement-1 assessment, vulnerability management, and risk assessment.
8. Skybox Security provides security risk and compliance management software such as the Firewall Compliance Auditor that collects information from multiple firewalls and analyzes configuration, optimizes rules set while automating the change assurance process and generates on-demand compliance and audit reports.
9. Solera Networks, Inc. delivers network appliance products and monitoring services and provides packet capture, record, and stream-to-storage devices and software, which is capable of capturing, streaming-to-storage, and archiving traffic on any network. With its Virtual Appliance, the company makes deep packet capture and analysis for deep forensic analysis.
10. TRUSTe helps thousands of businesses promote online safety and trust, and guides consumers to sites that protect their online privacy, such as Yahoo, Facebook, MSN, eBay, AOL, Disney, New York Times, Comcast and Apple. Read the privacy policy of any Web site you visit. If you see a TRUSTe privacy seal on that policy, you “can be confident that Web site protects your online privacy and security.”
11. UBIC is the first and only e-discovery and computer forensic services company in Japan. It has incorporated over seven years of experience as the premier provider of Asian e-discovery and computer forensic services. In 2007, UBIC North America, Inc., a wholly owned US subsidiary was established to provide trans-pacific support to U.S. clients.
12. Xatrix Security offers online and computer security related news, featuring the latest advisories, vulnerabilities and security software via a large searchable database of Microsoft, Linux and Unix advisories. Their Virus Central offers antivirus solutions and software with the latest news on virus threats.
13. YGN Elite Hacker Group is an international security team organized in Yangon, Myanmar. Established in 2007, this group is dedicated to provide security services at reasonable fees for SMEs. They guarantee to reduce risks and flaws up to 90 percent, with the remaining 10 percent depending upon security management and maintenance.
14. ZOOM Technologies was the first company to set up an IPsec VPN in India, the first to set up a Linux based WAN (the largest network in India), the first to set up a 24 X 7 antivirus and malware support center in India and more.

Internet Privacy Ventures

15. Abine, Inc., the online privacy company, provides Internet privacy solutions for consumers that allow regular people to regain control over their personal information online. One of the company’s first offerings is the Abine Privacy Suite software, a browser add-on that flushes intrusive cookies, shields contact information and separates online identities.
16. Better Advertising Project is a new type of company that brings transparency to online advertising. Formed last summer by former About.com CEO Scott Meyer, Better Advertising Project was tapped to monitor advertisers that use social media sites to collect information about consumers. The company has mapped more than five million domains and identified more than 250 companies involved in collecting or using consumer data.
17. Dasient is the first to develop a complete Web Anti-Malware service that can assess, detect and contain malware on websites to help businesses assure customer confidence and avoid losses of traffic, reputation, and revenue. Dasient was founded by former Google engineers Neil Daswani and Shariq Rizvi and former McKinsey strategy consultant Ameet Ranadive.
18. Diaspora: Four students from NYU’s Courant Institute are almost ready to take on social networking behemoth Facebook with Disapora, a distributed, open source social network. To cut out the middleman, Diaspora will be a distributed network where separate computers connect to each other directly, instead of relying on a central hub to relay information.
19. Evizone can be used to secure communications between not only individuals, but workgroups as well, solely on dedicated Evizone servers versus being spread across various computers and backup systems without the user’s knowledge or control. Once the retention period of an Evizone message or document expires, it is permanently deleted and no longer exists anywhere.
20. Reputation Defender offers services to monitor and control your Internet presence. They range from a customized search to remove personal information from databases to managing what search engines reveal about you. Businesses can take it a step further and sign up for services that will promote their brand, reduce the impact of negative publicity, and manage their presence on the Web.
21. SafetyWeb is a groundbreaking new service designed to help parents keep their children safe online. SafetyWeb scans the web for public info about the consumer’s child. They keep parents informed on the security and privacy of that child, instantly alerting parents to changes or dangers. SafetyWeb counts amongst its founders an Ivy League graduate who conducts admission interviews for his alma mater.
22. SocialShield patent-pending Safety Engines™ gives parents insight into what their kids are doing online. As a group, they provide a 360-degree view of what kids are saying and doing, as well as seeing who their friends are on the main social networks. More importantly, they call out any inappropriate, dangerous or suspicious behaviors or people in an easy-to-use format.
23. TLO is dedicated to creating technologies, systems, and tools that protect users from risk, fraud, and theft. This company recently detected 800 computers in Ireland that are downloading or trading child pornography images each month. According to ENN, a detective from the Garda Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Investigation Unit has attended a TLO seminar in Denmark on how to use its technology.
24. Togetherville: This is a new social site for kids aged 6-10 and their parents. Designed as an online neighborhood, this site also contains activities within a safe online environment with privacy controls. The site is recommended by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. According to Jimmy Fallon, television comedian, they called this site Togetherville, “because To-Catch-a-Predatorville was too long.”
25. Yoggie Security Systems‘ range of USB key-sized and ExpressCard-sized security mini-computers connects to any PC or laptop at home, in the office and on the road, blocking Internet threats outside the host computer and boosting computer performance by off-loading installed security software.

Forensic science is the use of science as it relates to the justice and legal system. To learn more about forensic sciences, you can begin at the crime scene, study the forensic processes — which can include psychology, criminal profiling and photography among other subjects — and study medical procedures as well as legal policies in various situations. Another arena to pursue includes digital forensics, or the science of catching hackers and white collar crime.

The following list of the top 50 forensic science blogs includes all those topics and more. Each link is listed alphabetically and leads directly to a recently updated blog.

On the Scene

1. Crime Scene: Jennifer Lebovich and Andrea Torres bring their perspectives on the Miami crime front for readers.
2. Crime Scene Cleanup: Learn about the science behind what it takes to clean up various crime scenes after investigators leave the scene.
3. Crime Scene KC: While this blog covers local crime scene news, it also searches for strange stories from around the county and takes tips.
4. Crimescene Blog: Frank Girardot, Metro Editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspapers, takes readers behind the yellow tape with perspectives on true crime, cold cases and more.

The Forensic Process

5. All About Forensic Psychology: David Webb uses this blog to showcase and review the very best forensic psychology information on the Internet.
6. Criminal Profiling: Learn about criminal justice, offender profiling, victimology, serial killers and forensic psychology news at this blog.
7. Deception Blog: Learn more about the applications of psychological research on deception.
8. Forensic Incident Response: Learn more about forensics, incident response, methodologies and more originating from real-world investigations.
9. Forensic Photoshop: Ever wonder about the forensic uses for Adobe’s Photoshop? Learn about it from this blog.
10. Forensic Science: The forensic department at the University of Florida blogs about its discoveries.
11. Forensic Science Blog: Learn more about forensic sciences from this comprehensive blog.
12. Forensics Talk: This blog is maintained by an independent forensic and legal nurse consultant.
13. Imaging Forensics: Learn about forensic image analysis, digital imaging and photography.
14. In the News: Dr. Karen Franklin is a forensic psychologist who blogs about forensic psychology, criminology and psychology law.
15. The Daily Profiler: Learn more about the science of profiling from the Pat Brown Criminal Profiling Agency.
16. The Forensic Science Blog: This blog about forensic science is provided by the law firm of McShance Firm, LLC.
17. The Writer’s Forensics Blog: Dr. D. P. Lyle writes fiction, and he has worked with writers of popular television shows such as Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Women’s Murder Club and more.
18. Zeno’s month: Zeno Geradts writes about his experiences as a forensic scientist.

The Medical Side of Forensics

19. Digital Pathology Blog: This blog focuses on the digital pathology community.
20. Florida Innocence Project: IPF has been screening, investigating, placing and litigating innocence cases, based upon DNA, since 2003.
21. Forensic DNA Testing Blog: DDC (DNA Diagnostics Center) staff and clients can post issues, concerns, answers, and questions regarding forensic DNA testing at this blog.
22. Forensic Medicine Resources: This blog provides an ‘e-resource’ for forensic medicine, pathology and science.
23. Forensic Medicine for Medical Students: This blog, part of a larger UK site, focuses on forensic medical procedures, including autopsies.
24. Forensic Science for Nurses: This blog is about forensic nursing science, written by a registered nurse teaching emergency and forensic nursing.
25. it is NOT junk: An evolutionary biologist at UC Berekley and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute focuses on genomes, DNA, evolution, open science and other important matters.
26. Morbid Anatomy: This blog focuses on death and culture, art and medicine. It is part of the Morbid Anatomy Library.
27. Neuropathology Blog: Learn about neuroanatomy, neurodegenerative disease, muscle and nerve disorders, ophthalmologic pathology and anything else that might be of interest to a blue-collar neuropathologist.
28. Pathtalk: Learn more about pathology and laboratory medicine through case examples and more.

Computer Forensics

Note: A pen test, or pentest, is a “penetration test,” a method to test the security of a computer system or network by simulating an attack from a malicious source.

29. A Geek Raised by Wolves: A relaxed blog that combines personal interests with information about the computer forensics field.
30. Binary Intelligence: Read about digital forensics, pentesting, electronic investigations and the computer underground at this blog.
31. CYB3RCRIM3: Read this blog for observations on technology, law and lawlessness.
32. Didier Stevens: Read about the thoughts, discoveries and perspectives of a “9-5 security researcher.”
33. Forensic Computing: Mike, a computer scientist who specializes in in the domain of forensic computing, maintains this blog.
34. Offensive Computing: There is a warning on this site that the site contains samples of live malware, so use discretion. That said, this site also conducts analysis of unknown and suspicious files.
35. SANS Computer Forensics: If you want to gain insight into computer forensics, digital investigations, and incident response, this blog might fit the bill.
36. The Cover of Night: This blog’s title says it all…using this strategy to understand that the “adversary will strike when least expected.” The focus is on software.
37. Volatility: Read this blog to learn more about volatile memory analysis research.

In Court

38. Criminal Justice Online: This blog focuses on supplying criminal justice practitioners, students and academics with online information and resources.
39. CrimProf Blog: Kevin Cole, Dean and law professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, offers his perspectives on criminal law at this blog.
40. Death Penalty is: This blog tackles the death penalty issue from both sides, hoping for a healthy debate on the issue.
41. Expert Witness Blog: JurisPro Inc. maintains the most substantive directory for expert witnesses available. This is their blog.
42. Finlaw Legal Blog Network: This slew of law blogs can provide you with the latest in legal news and information for both consumers and legal professionals.
43. Forensic Focus Blog: Jamie Morris, from Forensic Focus, provides his thoughts and musings on computer forensics in this blog.
44. ForensicKB: A blog about computer forensics, malware analysis and digital investigations.
45. Sentencing Law and Policy: This blog is provided by Douglas Berman, a William B. Saxbe Designated Professor of Law at Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University.
46. The Charles Smith Blog: Harold Levy, a former journalist, focuses on forensic pathology’s failures to bring accurate evidence to the courtroom.
47. The Criminal Defense Blog: This blog is all about criminal defense lawyers educating consumers.
48. The Depravity Scale: Depravity Scale research aims to distinguish the specific evidence — the intents, actions, and attitudes of a given crime — that warrants the most severe sentences.
49. Unsolved — In the News: This blog mainly features unsolved missing and unidentified persons cases, generally not recent.
50. White Collar Crime Prof Blog: This blog about white collar crime is provided by Professor Ellen S. Podgor from the Stetson University College of Law.

Popular TV shows like CSI, NCIS and Dexter have spawned a renewed interesting in forensic science. Other shows, like The X-Files and now Fringe, also make use of forensic science in their plot lines. Even before television shows, though, detectives like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot used forensic techniques and deduction to solve crimes, while fascinating millions of readers.

If you are interested in solving crimes and using methods of forensic science to do so, there are plenty of real-life role models for you. Indeed, there are even a few “superstars” of the forensic science world. Here are 10 of the most famous forensic scientists:

1. Alec Jeffreys: Sir Alec Jeffreys is not exactly a forensic scientist. However, his work on DNA profiling and fingerprinting is what paved the way for much of the analysis that is used today in modern forensic investigation. Jeffreys is a well-known geneticist, a professor at the University of Leicester in Britain. He had an epiphany about using DNA to identify people while studying X-ray images of a DNA experiment he was running in his lab. His techniques are used all over the world to catch criminals — in addition to resolving paternity disputes.
2. Edmond Locard: Known as the “Sherlock Holmes of France” Edmond Locard was famous as a pioneer in forensic science. He pointed out that everyone leaves a trace, and even developed a 12-point method of matching fingerprints in order to identify who they belonged to. Locard and two of his assistants started the first police lab. He originally studied medicine, but became interested in solving crime after working with a criminologist, Alexandre Lacassagne.
3. Joseph Bell: One of the inspirations for the literary character of Sherlock Holmes was Scotsman Joseph Bell. He was a pioneer in forensic pathology, believing that close observation was essential to crime-solving. At the time, in the late 19th Century, observations of the nature made by Bell were not often used to solve crimes. He was also a surgeon, and the personal surgeon to Queen Victoria when she was in Scotland. Some of his techniques are still used today by forensic scientists.
4. Sara Bisel: One of the pioneers in the field of forensic anthropology was Sara Bisel, who started using chemical and physical analysis of the skeletons found at Herculaneum, one of the cities destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 CE. Her methods provided insight into the health of ancient populations — and even provided a basis for the chemical analysis performed on remains today in forensic science.
5. William Bass: In order to better study human remains and decomposition, William Bass founded what is known as The Body Farm. This facility, the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, has been one of the most famous training grounds in forensic science. He has pioneered ways of studying human remains, and is well versed in osteology. He is a forensic anthropologist and served as an inspiration for a crime novel by Patricia Cornwell.
6. William Maples: William Maples made his mark studying the remains of famous historical figures, including The Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick, the dead family of Czar Nicholas II, and Zachary Taylor, one of the U.S. presidents. His book, Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist shed light on the field of forensic science, and what could be learned from studying dead remains. He is known for his ability to help solve cases that might have remained unsolved.
7. Clea Koff: “The Bone Woman,” Clea Koff, is well-known for her work on behalf of the United Nations. She worked for the Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and also for the tribal for the formal Yugoslavia. She is a well-known forensic anthropologist who used her skills to help bring some of the perpetrators of genocide to trial. Her autobiography is The Bone Woman: Among the dead in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Croatia. She also founded the Missing Persons Identification Resource Center that focuses on helping families match up with the U.S. Coroner’s Office in order to identify bodies that are so for unidentified.
8. Cyril Wecht: Cyril Wecht is one of the most interesting forensic scientists alive today. He has consulted on a number of high profile cases, including speculation about the death of president John Kennedy. He has also shared thoughts on Vincent Foster, Anna Nicole Smith and Sharon Tate. He was also a consultant in the Branch Davidian case. He does private consultations, and was even charged with fraud at one point, though those charges were dropped. Wecht was concertmaster at the University of Pittsburgh (he wanted to be a musician), but he went on to get his M.D. and to serve as a coroner.
9. Henry Lee: Known for his work on the JonBenét Ramsey case, as well as the Laci Peterson case, Henry Lee is almost as high profile as they come. He even worked on the O.J. Simpson case, consulted on the Vincent Foster case, and was asked for insights in the D.C. sniper shootings. He was born in China, but fled with his family to Taiwan. He has a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and came to the U.S. specifically to study Forensic Science. The main blot on his career is that he is accused of evidence tampering in the Phil Spector case.
10. Michael Baden: As the host of the HBO show Autopsy, many people recognize Michael Baden. He is also an author, writing popular non-fiction books about his work as a coroner and board certified forensic pathologist. He contributes to Fox News as an expert, and is a M.D. He has looked into past cases of murder, including those of John Belushi, JFK, Czar Nicholas II and his family, and looked into the cases of Phil Spector and O.J. Simpson. (The overlap on such cases is common; many forensic experts often go over the same cases — especially if the cases are famous. Baden is a consulting pathologist with a private practice, as well as providing expert witness testimony in court, and professional analysis on television. For one year, he was the Chief Medical Examiner for New York City.

CSI, Monk, Bones, The Mentalist, Law and Order – with so many great crime shows, it’s easy to miss one while watching the other. Fortunately, a few new websites have sprung up to meet the demand and have your favorite shows for free. And, they’re legal.

Project-Free TV

Project – Free TV has a long list of shows and have easy-to-find links to each season available. Links tell you the loading time, whether it’s available in HD, the host, and when it was submitted. If something goes wrong or the video is of poor quality, just report the problem with an easy click. And, when you run out of TV shows (as if you could), they also have movies. The website functions by linking to content that has been uploaded to other online video hosting sites like Veoh, Megavideo, Youtube, and Google Video, which already have filters designed to eliminate illegal content.

Hulu

Compared with the funky orange of Project-Free TV, Hulu is sleek and professional. You probably saw it advertised during one of your favorite shows already. Don’t worry, aliens aren’t in charge (I don’t think), but the fast downloads and selection are out of this world. You’ll have to put up with commercials before the shows come on, but after that it’s instant TV time. Within 10 seconds you’ll be watching Bones, no uploading or downloading necessary on your part.

Fancast

Fancast takes its cues from Hulu, but isn’t quite as smooth on first look. But, it gets the job done after the obligatory commercial. Video quality varies, so HD lovers might want to head back to Hulu.

Yideo

A little like Netflix, a little like Hulu, a little like Amazon oddly enough, Yideo has a lot of helpful extra bells and whistles compared with other video sites. It’s even on Facebook and Twitter. In fact, Yideo appears to be where all websites are heading, but not all the content is free; there are some shows and movies you may have to pay for. You will also have to sign up for an account, but then the fun begins. You can create a queue for your must-see episodes, you can “Like” shows (think Facebook), you can create a personalized TV schedule to catch the latest episodes, and you can set it up to remind you via email when new episodes are available to watch. And, if you want to, you can let all your friends know what you are watching via Twitter and Facebook.

The field of forensic science is a wide and ever evolving one – it has to be. The Moriartys’ of this world keep coming up with ever ingenious methods of committing a crime and forensic science has to keep in step with the changing times and crimes. Here is a nice timeline [PDF] of how forensic science has evolved over thousand and more years.

Criminology techniques followed today are far advanced of what forensic scientists practiced even two decades back. A student desirous of a career in forensic science may feel overwhelmed trying to figure out what’s going to be his life’s calling – cutting up corpses or finding out whodunit.

Here are ten tips to help you choose the right forensic science career –

1. CSI: Las Vegas is quite removed from forensic science reality. If your inspiration for a course in forensic science results from television and films then a reality check is in order. Real life criminology is a little more drab and your colleagues are not guaranteed to look as attractive as Lauren Lee Smith.

2. Your major subject in your graduate degree course will almost certainly decide your specialization in your master’s course. A bachelor’s in computer science has you better placed to work in or study for forensic computer science instead of forensic psychology.

3. Know what the job entails. A forensic crime scene investigator’s job involves a fair bit of legwork plus odd working hours. Can you handle that? Or would you rather prefer peering into a microscope and studying tissue and material samples in a lab trying to deduce how the deed was done? It’s an important call to make. Check with people that are already doing this kind of work.

4. Find out about the job opportunities. The best position to be in would be if there are ample growth opportunities for the kind of forensic science work you wish to do; you get into a college of your liking and land a few scholarships as well. But life does not always work that way. Forensic computer science is a growing field but a forensic major in environmental science may perhaps lead to limited work opportunities.

5. Consider a dual degree. A degree in art with one in forensic science will increase your chances of landing a job as a forensic artist. Or, you can choose to major in one subject that will serve as your foundation and select forensic science as one of the minors.

6. Prior work experience, even if unrelated to the forensics field, matters. If you have worked as a statistician, then you can study for the job of a forensic science technician. Work experience can also include volunteer work in a hospital or the fire brigade will stand you in good stead.

7. Here is a significant point to keep in mind. An undergraduate degree in forensic science may not always be the best thing to go for, especially if you know that you will be going for a higher degree. A pure science degree in a field you wish to specialize in will stand you in better stead as it will give you a more thorough grounding of the subject matter.

8. Weigh your options in terms of the colleges you can go to. Some colleges have a general forensic science degree, others may offer specialization, and yet others may offer a course with the elements of a dual degree. You should also factor in the prospects of financial aid with respect to a particular college.

9. If you are already working in a law enforcement agency, then keep your eyes open for training and certification programs that can lead to a job in the field of forensics.

10. If you know that a career in forensic science is what you really want, then start early. Take as many math and science courses as possible in high school. Work on your writing skills and develop public speaking skills.

Bonus tip – If you have any kind of a criminal record or have been involved in DUI incidents, or drugs then you can say goodbye to a career in forensic science.